You’re not welcome here. Truer words have never been uttered in St. Albert, much less senselessly sprayed upon a neighbourhood sign near you.
That phrase, along with the word liars, was scrawled upon a sign promoting Habitat for Humanity’s Aurora Place, a 30-unit duplex development that’s proved a lightning storm of controversy in the neighbourhood going on two years. There’s been no shortage of critics who have blasted the size and scale of development, situated next to single-family homes and quiet Attwood Park. The project will lead to a crime-filled ghetto, we were told, a shameful example of government handouts to a big-time developer whose motives surely were more sinister than just wanting to give people a hand up.
It was an ugly debate then and it’s even uglier today thanks to the dim-witted ramblings of an unknown gutless individual or group. It’s unclear whether the message was directed at Habitat for Humanity Edmonton or the Habitat families who will one day call the site home, or both. Given the amount of intelligence on display, it’s unlikely the culprit has a firm enough grasp on the English language to know the difference.
Such overt bigotry is shameful and reduces any legitimate debate below the lowest common denominator. And while it would be easy to shrug it off as an isolated incident and pin it on bored youth in a harmless case of vandalism, it’s anything but. It’s another example of this project dredging up the worst in St. Albert: the infamous Perry letter; the threats made during the hearing process that forced the city to change how it released public comments; the hyperbolic rhetoric of poverty stricken kids either selling crack or playing in drainage ditches; and even one teen’s suggestion her bedroom window suddenly would be stalked by the incoming poor lechers, an imagination owing to a high school reading of Harper Lee’s most famous work perhaps.
This latest mischievous act of course trumps any verbal vitriol. But as imbecilic as the culprit was, there was some rudimentary thought put into the political commentary that not only targets Habitat but city hall (“liars” was scrawled by the City of St. Albert logo). But instead of rallying against Habitat’s cause as intended, it overshadows past credible arguments and, hopefully, creates empathy. It’s much harder today to say with a straight face that opposition is about density, about the loss of a school and green space and not a rant against affordable housing. That defaced sign is a monument to NIMBY, one that unfortunately reflects poorly on more than just one Neanderthal turned tagger.
All of St. Albert is dragged through the mud and that should be real cause for anger. No one is naive enough to assume St. Albert doesn’t have its share of bigots who fancy this city as a wealthy only club, however that’s not the community I call home. The St. Albert I know is a caring city with a volunteer spirit from people who freely give back to the community. I hope that’s the case as Aurora Place moves forward.
To the nitwit culprit: It’s you and your ilk who aren’t welcome in St. Albert. Go back to the cave if you want to paint messages. And if that’s too hard for your brain to comprehend (sound it out), let’s put it in terms you can understand: you’re a jackass.
Bryan Alary is an editor at the Gazette.
